John Coltrane
Biography:
John Coltrane was born September 23, 1926 in Hamlet, North Carolina. He is known as one of the greatest saxophone players in the jazz style and made a permanent impact on what jazz is today. He had a very unique style of playing and brought an extremely creative and eccentric style to the jazz idiom. John Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist who had an early experience with music due to his Father John R. Coltrane who had a passion for music and played several different instruments. His influences included Count Basie who was a jazz pianist, band leader, composer, and united one of the most popular big bands ever. He was also influenced by Saxophonist Lester Young. Early on, Coltrane attended Ornstein School of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Shortly after, as a young man, he was enlisted to serve in the Navy stationed in Hawaii. Upon his return, he continued his studies as a musician at Granoff School of Music also in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Through this experience, he was introduced to some popular big bands at the time. He found the big band led by Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson where he began primarily playing the tenor saxophone. After returning from the Navy in the summer of 1946 and being exposed to some big bands and talented musicians. Coltrane joined Jimmy Heaths band where he began to really experiment with his creativity. He then received the opportunity to join big band led by Dizzy Gillespie, who is a legendary jazz trumpeter and bandleader. He also earned himself gigs with Duke Ellington, but didn't last long due to drug related issues. He ended up in the Miles Davis Quintet where he contributed to the legendary Miles Davis Album titled Kind Of Blue and was held accountable for his wishes to recover from his drug problem. Proceeding his experience working with Miles Davis throughout the mid to late 1950's, his music was very spiritually motivated. During the 1960's Coltrane was at his peak of maturity in life and in music. In 1966 he released two albums Kulu Se Mama and Meditations. He is known as one of the greatest tenor saxophone players to live, especially, in the jazz genre. He died shorty after finalizing his last album from lung cancer in 1967. He died at an age 40 years old from liver cancer on July 17, 1967, in Huntington, Long Island, New York, survived by his second wife and four children.
